This announcement comes less than a month after news that Brad McQuaid, producer of the original Everquest, had rejoined SOE after leaving the company in 2002 to form Sigil Games and produce the MMORPG Vanguard. Vanguard has also made a home at Sony and is in the process of transitioning to the free-to-play business model.

Information about Everquest Next itself is scarce. An SOE Developer posted to the Everquest II forums that:

“EQ Next is still being built within a black box. The *earliest* we are currently considering that we *might* reveal info is late this year. We're being very particular about what needs to be in the game before revealing it to folks, so until that stuff is ready, we won't be showing anything. (Screens you saw from a couple years ago are completely obsolete now and are not pertinent to the current game at all.)”

As SOE has cozied up to the free-to-play system in a big way, it’s probably safe to say that EQ Next will follow suit. We do know that the game will be built using Sony’s the new Forge Light engine on display in the upcoming MMO shooter Planetside 2.